im taking 10mg methadone tablet 1 a day

I want to stop them all.. even though I will be in awful pain..... the Dr's are making it impossible and making me feel like I am doing something wrong ... my old Dr quit... new dr's wont give me refills..... I stopped for one day and I thought my legs & arms were going to explode they feel like gittery jumpy i cant sleep cause of it.... how can i get off these the right way and what can i take to help with this?   i took one table and cut it in half gonna see how long it is before the feelings come back... i CANT exercise or workout cause of my back & leg what else can i do to stop?  I dont have a car I cant go to meth clinics cant afford taxis, bus not in my area.... please someone help....

[bmdad]

One good thing is that your not on that high of a dose. I'm not saying it will be easy, but you can do this. A member here names gnarly1 is a pro when it comes to methadone tapering. I know he recommends a drop of 10% ever 3 days or so. With taking 10mg a day it can be hard to drop 10% because you can't cut the pill up that small. One way to go about it is to get one of those plastic syringes. You can ask the pharmacy for one and they will give you one for free. Using the syringe you can measure you. 10ml of water. You can then dissolve one of the 10mg pills in that 10ml of water. Then you can use the syringe and take 9ml of the formula. That will give you your 10% drop. There's more math involved to do another 10% drop after the first 3 days or so. I'm not going to figure it now but if you need help with it, just let me know.
If you do decide to cold turkey you will feel rough for around 2 weeks since methadone has such a long half life. There are things to help. In the health pages in the upper right hand side of the screen you will see the amino acid protocol. It a list of vitamins and supplements that will help you feel a bit better and help to get your mind and body back on track. It won't take away the withdrawals but will help. You have to make sure you are pushing the fluids, eating healthy, and exercise. I know it's hard to muster up the energy to exercise, but you have to force yourself. I've been there before and it does feel impossible but even a short walk at first will help. You have to stay busy also. If you lay around thinking about how miserable you feel the days will feel like they will never end. Now is a good time to pick up some new hobbies or get back in to things you enjoyed before you started taking the pills. I would check in to some NA meetings as this only one of the few things that can keep us from relapsing.
Be sure to stick around the forum. You will get so much help and support. It's not an easy road but the road there for you to travel. You will hit some bumps along the way but nothing you can't push through.
Hang in there and stay strong. This is a fight that is worth fighting for.
Best of luck!

Brian

[lmccoy]

I have been trying to figure out a way to cut back on real low doses and had just given up, because of the crumbly pills. Thanks for the great hint on disolving them! It's the perfect way to do it.